Seattle Hempfest 2009

It doesn't get a whole lot of media coverage, so in case you don't know, it is the largest "protestival" of pot advocates in the world. This year was the 18th annual Hempfest, held on the beautiful Seattle waterfront. The event spans for miles, and over three waterfront parks, for two days in August. I don't know how they keep track of how many people come to this thing, but I have heard figures of close to 400,000 people having attended this year's. I was there, and that sounds about right!

After stopping in Portland to pick up my cousin for her 30th birthday weekend away with me, we headed up to Seattle for our two day stay. I won't go into too much detail about the festival, instead I am posting my slideshow of photos here. I will say, though, that I was amazed that over that weekend, with people walking shoulder to shoulder, that we never saw any one person be rude to another. Not once. People were walking up to other people and introducing themselves, shaking hands, and being 100% civil and courteous. I recently took my child to our county fair, which was much smaller, and had to deal with constant rudeness and bad manners, so this was a big thing! We laid out our blanket and sat on the grass by the water and listened to live bands play, activists speak, and met some new people. It was a great time, great food, and I will definitely go again next year!

Replies to This Discussion

This year's Hempfest is August 20, 21 & 22. We are hoping we can afford to go again (we live in Southern Oregon so it's a long drive for us). If you are coming to Seattle and plan on staying in a hotel, I can't stress enough the importance of booking a room WAY EARLY. We booked 4 months in advance and still had limited choice of places/rooms to stay in. Go to hempfest.org for more info on the event!